Fears Pentagon Will Be Wooed By Larger KC-45A

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) called on Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates Friday to ensure the new round of bidding for the Air Force refueling tanker contract does not include any residual bias from the initial competition, which contained significant errors and was heavily skewed toward the Airbus tanker.

"We are calling for aggressive oversight of the bidding process to make sure Boeing's tanker is evaluated on a fair, level playing field," said IAM General Vice President Rich Michalski. "We will not accept, nor should American taxpayers accept a process or an outcome that is only slightly less rigged than the initial round of bidding."

Fresh concerns erupted following Wednesday's announcement the Pentagon will once again put the contract for the Air Force's next tanker up for rebid. The union fears the Department of Defense might once again use the increased fuel capacity and other criteria to favor the Airbus-sourced KC-45A over Boeing's smaller KC-767, which better matches the original selection criteria of the KC-X bid to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

The new competition will be limited to eight areas of concern highlighted in a scathing critique of the Air Force decision to award the $40 billion contract to EADS-Airbus, a European consortium fronted by Los Angeles, CA,-based Northrop Grumman Corp.

"I am concerned that the department is trying to find a new way to justify selecting the larger Airbus tanker again, even though there is no current operational requirement for a larger refueling tanker," said Washington state Rep. Norm Dicks, who learned that the criteria for the new tanker will favor a larger tanker than was initially requested.

Dicks also noted that the Airbus is 53 percent larger than the Boeing 767, requiring greater maintenance and operations costs. He noted that the Boeing KC-767 could save $35 billion in fuel costs over 40 years -- an amount large enough to equal the purchase of the entire fleet.

The IAM represents nearly 35,000 Boeing employees in Washington state, Oregon, Kansas and other locations across the country.

FMI: www.goiam.org